Sword Art Online: Revised

Prelude: End of Tedium

By: Phantomhive-King of Illusions

9:03 A.M., November 6th, 2022.

Niban Kankari tried to keep up a calm appearance as he sat across from the man he looked up to in the same way teenaged girls looked up to whatever actress was popular that week. He had a moderate level of success- he could probably talk without babbling or stuttering, and that was all he really needed.

The man across from him was none other than THE Kayaba Akihiko, the man who had created the Nerve Gear, and was also responsible for creating the world's first VRMMORPG that would be coming online in about four hours.

Seeing as Niban wouldn't start the conversation, Kayaba took it upon himself to do so. After all, he had some last minute preparations to make for what was to come. "So, Niban, I have a few questions that I'd like you to answer before the game's launch… I don't suppose you'll indulge me?"

It took Niban a moment to answer, rather shocked that Kayaba wanted to ask him questions. Just before he could answer, the waitress of the cafe they were in brought them their coffees. He took a sip and replied, "Of course I will, if I can. What's got you curious?"

Kayaba graced him with a small smile. "I've seen your blog "Zaken the Berserker's Hall of Fame." On it, you claim to be the 'Best PvP Player" in three MMOs. Including 'Sea of Pirates,' which is an entirely PvP game I myself made. It also lists all of the players you've killed at any point, on any game, and outlines your strategies. It's that last part that really made me wonder. Why did you put how you're doing it on the web? It can only make it easier for them to defend against you."

Niban took his time taking several sips of his coffee as he prepared a reply, and delivered it when his cup was half empty. "It was to easy, you know? None of those games have much of a death penalty, so no one minds overly much when they die- it's just extra travel time. My player name became known on the forums and in the world chats as a seriously strong PKer. So, I think when most lackluster players saw me, they got up to use the bathroom or get some more snacks. Barely anyone fought back enough to call it fighting, and only a few players actually managed to kill me instead. Other PKers came for me of course, wanting to claim some glory for killing me. They usually succeeded, but I'd often take two or three out of six with me… so my rep actually got bolstered. I hoped that if I told people how I was going to kill them, they'd put up a better fight, as opposed to rolling over dead."

Kayaba nodded as he heard that explanation, and gave a enigmatic smile- which really wasn't hard for him. "I don't believe you'll have that problem in Sword Art Online. The death penalty is extremely harsh. I toned it down by a large margin for the beta testers… but you'll find out soon enough. It's explained in the tutorial."

Niban grinned. His prey would fight back in this game! He then buried that elation for later- he needed to keep calm. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale….. His next words reflected his new-found inner calm, temporary as it was, "What else caught your interest?"

Kayaba's next question was one Niban had been asked a lot, but never given a decent answer to. "Your strategies are certainly interesting. You put everything into attack and ignore your defense. It sounds foolish to read it, but somehow you manage to make it work. I've seen how it works, but I'd like to know how it is you came to use such tactics."

Niban had purposely given vague or unhelpful answers to everyone who'd asked anything about his strategy before… but this was Kayaba, and so a full answer readily came forth. "I developed it because of the group of friends I played with in middle school. They were the only one's I really trusted not to pull some BS on a big boss fight- like leaving me dead so I wouldn't get a share of the reward. It happened to me with surprising regularity otherwise. But they were… well… not the best. Our healer and tank were the only other players on my level- and so all I had to work with. So I put everything in that character into attack. I did the damage, and the other two kept me alive. It worked fairly well, and when the other three changed games because it got too hard, we started three-manning dungeons…" He realized that his explanation was turning into a rant and quickly ended it, in his embarrassment. "Anyway, that's why."

Kayaba seemed to find his story/mini-rant mildly amusing, as he gave his suggestion " Perhaps you should take the time out of grinding to make some better friends, or join a guild. In SAO you are going to want someone to watch your back, especially because there is no healing magic.

Niban nodded thoughtfully as he saw the truth of that statement "Maybe you're right… I'll make some good friends. I don't do well in guilds. I apparently have a problem with taking stupid orders, and guild leaders don't like that... But maybe I could start my own guild…" He trailed off thinking about that possibility.

Kayaba chuckled slightly at that before breaking him out of it with his next question "Just one more thing…. If you could, would you be the Hero of a story, or the Villain?"

It didn't even take Niban five seconds to prepare his reply. "Honestly, I'd probably be an Anti-hero. I could have all the perks of technically being a 'good guy' on the 'right side,' without having to worry about things like being 'noble' or 'merciful.'"

Kayaba gave him a look of mild surprise, before he stood up and placed the amount he owed for the coffee on the table. "I wish you the best of luck with that."

Niban stood up on placed his own money on his side of the table. "Thanks... and I suppose this is goodbye?"

Kayaba gave him another enigmatic smile before turning and walking away "Not forever."

Not knowing what to make of that, Niban walked away from the table as well.

12:55 A.M., November 6th, 2022.

Kazuto Kirigaya was sitting in his computer chair with his headphones in, listening to MMO Stream as he flipped through the NerveGear's manual one last time before his first Dive in two months. Because of that, he barely heard his sister tell him that she was leaving, and ignored it easily.

12:56

Kazuto stood up and looked out the window, then turned and looked around his room for a moment. When that moment past, he pressed the power button on his computer, cutting of the voice of the MMO Stream girl.

He pushed his chair in as his computer finished shutting down., and then checked the status of his snack supplies. He would be able to play for days without needing to restock, only coming up for the necessities. During the Beta, SAO had been everything… and he was more than ready to go back to Aincrad.

12:59

He layed down on his bed and placed the NerveGear on his head. And took a deep breath.

13:00

The second he saw the 12 become a 13 he smirked, and said as clearly as possible "Link Start!" The moment after he said that, the world as he could sense it went white. Then rods of every color on the rainbow- and a few that aren't- quickly flew by him. Five circles with one of English names of the five senses on them crowded his vision before changing to say 'OK,' and leaving his field of vision. Then it auto-selected his language, because Japanese was the only language on the list. He entered in his account name and password, and the system offered to let him load his character data from the beta. That was a pleasant surprise for him, as he had expected to be forced to re-customize his character. Seeing as it would save him at least an hour, he selected yes.

He felt the last bit of tension slip away from the muscles he could still feel as he read the next message.

Welcome to Sword Art Online!

AN: So? How was it? I think It turned out alright. Anyway, review please. Oh, and PM me if you have any questions. The next chapter should be out by the 20th.